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Taking the “Poison” out of Poison Dart Frogs

Several people who had read about the vivarium expressed concern about the baby coming into contact with or being harmed by the frogs.

To be clear, the frogs are not poisonous.

Yes, they’re called poison dart frogs. Technically they may possess the capacity to be poisonous, but they are not currently poisonous and never have been.

What causes the frogs to be poisonous (or rather, toxic) is their diet of ants and certain other insects in their native habitat, Peruvian tropical forests. They aren’t fed those insects when they’re in captivity or captive bred, so they don’t produce the toxin.

The frogs aren’t likely to escape the vivarium, but if they did they pose no threat to anyone. They would not survive long outside of the custom environment of the vivarium–they require warm temperatures and high humidity. Our house stays a comfortable temperature but the floor tiles around the vivarium might be rather chilly and the froglets would dry up fast in the house–that is, if the cats didn’t find the sweet little guys first! I shudder to think of it, but the teensy frogs would be irresistible to one Kitty Diggins. He attacked my hand the other day while I was patting the baby, burping her, and he eats plants on a daily basis. There is no reasoning with him. Hopefully we never have a prison break from the frogs! They’re very satisfied with their vivarium accommodations–always singing five star reviews praising the sauna and continental breakfast–so they seem unlikely to stage a breakout for now.